₦airaland Forum

Now they're in the same party so he has to support him.

https://images.moneycontrol.com/static-mcnews/2023/10/Israel-770x433.png?impolicy=website&width=770&height=431


An attack from Gaza and an Israeli declaration of war. Now what? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being pressured to launch a full-scale invasion that Israeli leaders have been scrupulously avoiding since 2005.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/europe/?url=https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world/an-attack-from-gaza-and-an-israeli-declaration-of-war-now-what-11495621.html&classic=true

This is one benefit of having more money. Money can be used to undergo expensive medical treatments. Thanks Olumide Akpata is alive.

PDP is ill in Kaduna and in entire middle belt region chiefly because the party is considered as Christian party instead of a party open for all religions. This is because in their campaigns, their words usually make people feel APC is a fulani or Islamic party. Meanwhile, using religion criticism as a campaign strategy usually fails woefully even after they win.

Israeli government should hunt and kill only the terrorists and spare the innocent unless the innocent become attackers. Furthermore, both sides should make effort for reconciliation.

You'll see them performing well with the fear of God when they go to other countries for assignments but here in Nigeria they're clueless.

You're really lucky. Even Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the celebrity, didn't find it easy. But shamefully, Benin Republic, a country that isn't bigger than Rivers doesn't have this skirmishes.

Nigerian judiciary is made clouded, twisted and jagajaga even to lawyers themselves especially when it comes to election matters.

Stop planning evil all the time--it will haunt you forever.

Mhizzard:
i would say have never hear of the first four groups before.illuminate,i guess it is common among musicians.

Or rather it is common among owners of entertainment industries who initiate greedy musicians, writers, fashion stars, social media moguls, etc.

RingRoadMafia:
Illuminati is... due to the hype around it. Cicada 3301 is based mostly on an if you know you know basis.

Thanks RingRoadMafia.

RingRoadMafia:
1: The Bilderberg Group
2: Annunaki (Lizard People)
3: Skull & Bones
4: Cicada
5: Illuminati

Between Cicada and Illuminati, which one is more popular?

1. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-RHmWzyFk9o/maxresdefault.jpg


2. https://img.mensxp.com/media/content/2021/Jun/All-About-9-Unknown-Men-A-2000-YO-Secret-Society1200_60dc6cc57c5dd.jpeg


3. https://alleghenycampus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Mephistopheles-900x598.png


4. https://t3.ftcdn.net/jpg/05/99/00/52/360_F_599005230_vuN9GbhcN35Baq0fsmPdQSyc7IsMfv5j.jpg


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One Best Skill a Graduate Should Master to Overcome Mediocrity


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image from psychologytoday.com

When a political leader visited our community to talk to youths, I was called to give suggestions.

But I wasn't prepared.

A man who didn't finish secondary school--but who prepared--gave great suggestions.

He could reason faster than me.

I started learning from there.

*If you're asked to enumerate functions of government, can you enumerate 3 now? If a teacher in your class ask you to define government, can you define it well now?

It's difficult because you didn't prepare, right?

Ability to offer solutions and smart suggestions at the right time is a valuable skill.

To begin to develop this skill, create a list of challenges your people or your community is facing.

Create a list of questions people can ask.

Be used to practising to explain or enumerate a list.

Here are 3 questions of focus:

1. For graduates with interest in sport

What are the major challenges facing Nigerian Super Eagles?

Why is swimming neglected in most states of the federation?

Why are we not taking advantage of basketball for national development?

2. For graduates with interest in climate change (green house)

How can we stop people from cutting trees for fuel?

How can we make cooking gas very cheap for people in our community?

How can we recycle plastic wastes?

3. For graduates with interest in environmental health

How can we make our community and water ways clean?

In addition, if you hear of any debate club in your city or town join and become a member as it will help broaden your mind and make you sharp.

I know personal skills are important; I focus on learning and thinking.

Through communication skills and constructive criticism youths should pay attention to their communities to hold their political leaders accountable.

Angela Yvonne Davis, an American Marxist, feminist political activist and author, said:

“I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever, but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement.”

2.

He answers questions correctly in our class.

So I ask him:

"How can I easily retain more information in my memory?"

He tells me and invites me to join their reading group.

I join. We meet 5pm after school.

One member can define hundreds of English words accurately.

He says he learns one new vocabulary everyday following the advice a literature teacher, a youth corps member, gives.

One month later in the group I learn that words are sources of knowledge.

If you focus on learning new words everyday,

you'll notice that you don't have to attend classes to be intelligent.

You don't have to read many books.

If you understand words, it's easy to understand books.

But I have to ask him before he tells me the secret.

If you don't ask, it's assumed that you know.

How many times do you ask those ahead of you to tell you how they get there?

Your success sometimes depends on the quality of a question you ask yourself or someone.

You need to ask a special question that helps for you to have special knowledge that helps.

Ask people who are good at doing what you want to be good at doing.

Questions open doors of knowledge that transform the world.

Jesus says "Ask and it will be given unto you" (Matthew 7:7).

The #ForefrontWriter, Maren John Mafuyai

1. https://guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Lagos-Blue-Rail-1062x598.jpg
Courtesy: Guardian.ng

2. https://cdn.vanguardngr.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/image-362.png
Courtesy: vanguardngr.com

3. https://marineandeconomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/lagos-Blue-line-project.jpg
Courtesy: marineandeconomy.com

4. https://mmo.aiircdn.com/370/63a19ab275fcf.jpeg
Courtesy: mmo.aiircdn.com

5. https://i0.wp.com/koko.ng/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Blue-Rail-4-KOKO-TV-NG.jpeg?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1
Courtesy: koko.ng

CORRECTIONS


BEFORE:

What is passive voice?

Any grammatical element is geared towards helping a speaker or writer to deliberately pass a particular information or message to a reader or listener. One of those elements is passive voice.

Passive voice is a form of a lexical verb in which the subject of a sentence receives the action of the verb rather than performing the action. The opposite of passive voice is called active voice.


AFTER:

What is passive voice?

There are many grammatical elements that helps a speaker or writer to deliberately pass a particular information or message to a reader or listener. One of those elements is passive voice.

Passive voice is a form of a lexical verb in which the subject of a sentence receives the action of the verb rather than performing the action. The opposite of passive voice is called active voice.

BEFORE:

Passive voice is usually used in expository essay explaining a process of doing something like cooking, experiment, industrial work, etc. Creative writers are advised to avoid using it as it weakens a creative story. They are told "Mary runs the school" is more effective than "The school is run by Mary."

AFTER:

Passive voice is usually used in expository essay explaining a process of doing something like cooking, experiment, industrial work, etc. Creative writers are advised to avoid using it as it weakens a creative story. For example, they are told "Mary runs the school" is more effective than "The school is run by Mary."

Review
The Use of passive voice in chinua achebe's dead men's path

Reviewer: maren John Mafuyai

Review date: 7/11/2022





Dead Men's Path" is a short story written by Chinua Achebe and published in 1953. The story follows a young headmaster who is assigned to manage a mission school in a place where African traditional religion is fully in fashion.

The headmaster wants to prove that he's self-oriented, highly educated and therefore good at running the school. However, he ends up blocking the path that connects the people with their dead people--a move that results in a serious conflict.

This is a kind of a story one can see featured in most African history books. It is therefore no longer a new thing that it's difficult to make one forsake his/her inherited religion especially in totality.

To attract people to read this kind of a story, a creative writer needs to employ a device to hook them. That may be why Achebe relies on passive voice.

What is passive voice?

Any grammatical element is geared towards helping a speaker or writer to deliberately pass a particular information or message to a reader or listener. One of those elements is passive voice.

Passive voice is a form of a lexical verb in which the subject of a sentence receives the action of the verb rather than performing the action. The opposite of passive voice is called active voice.

Example:

Passive voice: Okon's promise was fulfilled.


Active voice: Okon fulfilled his promise.

In passive voice the sentence begins with Okon's promise. However, in active voice the sentence begins with Okon. In passive voice Okon receives the action of the verb rather than performing the action. Passive voice can appear in present tense, perfect tense, past tense, future tense, present and past continuous tense, etc.

Present tense: Okon's promise is fulfilled.
Perfect tense: Okon's promise has/had been fulfilled.
Past tense: Okon's promise was fulfilled.
Future tense: Okon's promise will/would/shall/should be fulfilled.
Present continuous tense: Okon's promise is being fulfilled.
Past continuous tense: Okon's promise was being fulfilled....
Etc.

Passive voice is usually used in expository essay explaining a process of doing something like cooking, experiment, industrial work, etc. Creative writers are advised to avoid using it as it weakens a creative story. They are told "Mary runs the school" is more effective than "The school is run by Mary."

But the major concern is sometimes a situation can be best explained through the use of passive voice. For example, it's better to say "The school is short-staffed" rather than "The mischievous proprietor short-staffs the school."

There are often situations in creative writing where it's more preferable to use passive voice. In 'Dead Men's Path', for example, Chinua Achebe demonstrates his intelligence and accurate sense of observation through employing the voice.

The Use Of Passive Voice in 'Dead Men's Path'

Chinua Achebe wishes to begin his 'Dead Men's Path' featuring the main character, a young energetic man named Michael Obi. He has no any effective option than to use a passive voice in both the first and the second sentence. He writes:

"Michael Obi's hopes were fulfilled much earlier than he had expected. He was appointed headmaster of Ndume Central School in January 1949."

The use of passive voice, his "hopes were fulfilled" and he "was appointed headmaster", is very interesting and impressive. A reader must want to know more about this man Michael Obi.

After Michael Obi's wife says something in reply to Michael Obi, Achebe wants us to know more about them. Again he chooses to use a passive voice but this time in a long sentence. He writes:

"In their two years of married life she had become completely infected by his passion for 'modern methods' and his denigration of 'these old and superanuated people in the teaching field who would be better employed as traders in the Onitsha Market.'"

Notice that "who would be better employed" and "she had become completely infected" are all forms of passive voice. Further, passive voice appears in conversation in what Michael Obi says to his wife:

"I was thinking what a grand opportunity we've got at last to show these people how a school should be run."

"How a school is run" and "how a school should be run" are both correct forms of passive voice. But a man who uses "how a school is run" may however be considered less professional in handling English Language than the one who uses "how a school should be run." Maybe that's why Achebe puts the later in Michael Obi's mouth since "Michael Obi was appointed headmaster of Ndume Central School."

Now Achebe has proven that he can more often use this technique effectively. He further uses it twice in one sentence as he writes:

"A high standard of teaching was insisted upon, and the school compound was to be turned into a place of beauty."

The author depends on passive voice throughout the story. It produces formal, original and mature language that reveals a clash between European and African belief. The following is the rest of the sentences where passive voice appears:

"Although [the path] is hardly used, it connects the village shrine with their place of burial."

"'But [the path] will not be used now'..."

"Heavy sticks were planted closely across the path at the two places where it entered and left the school premises. These were further strengthened with barbed wire."

"'...this path was here before you were born and before your father was born."

"...it is the path of children coming to be born."

"A diviner was immediately consulted and he prescribed heavy sacrifices to propitiate ancestors insulted by the fence."

"The beautiful hedges were torn up not just near the path but right round the school, the flowers trampled to death and one of the school buildings pulled down..."

All the sentences sound interesting, entertaining and easy to access, follow and interpret. Passive voice is a good ingredient to use to cook a fascinating story.

Conclusion

Great writers are aware that a key to great writing is identifying literary and grammatical devices and using them effectively. Through Dead Men's Path" Chinua Achebe demonstrates that passive voice is the best device any creative writer can take advantage of. The tool can be shaped and transformed to refine any dirty or weak sentence into the most wealthiest one.

It's far better off to tell up-coming creative writers to learn how to effectively use passive voice rather than scaring them that passive voice spoils a story.

7.

I pushed my small white bicycle as I passed by a shopping mall.

An elderly neighbor saw me and shouted:

"This bicycle is too small for you. Dont use it."

I waved and shouted, "Thank you."

Though I was embarrassed.

A bicycle is small for me only if I can't ride it comfortably.

Any bicycle I can ride to a reasonable distance is my size.

My bicycle is taller than a motorcycle that can carry three men to their destination.

But I calmed down and shook the embarrassment because this isn't the first time I experienced someone whose joy comes from someone's sadness.

Every adult should know these:

-If you assume something, don't state it. Turn it to question.

If the man asked me privately, "Is this bicycle not too small for you?" it wouldn't have caused him this kind of writing here.

-Never believe you know.

From a distance or because you don't understand my bicycle, it may look too small. But wait until you see me riding it before arriving at your conclusion.

During my school days I lived in a hostel with someone similar who moved to disapprove of almost everything I said eventhough he knew he was wrong. My relationship with him was never connected.

Why did I share this story?

You may be facing or causing similar challenges.

But it is good to know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Ask good questions to recognize that someone has emotions too.

8.

Coming up from work, I appeared on a path near a house...
Someone appeared from the house and gave me a handshake. When I accepted it, friendship was established between us...
Later he visited me, have a nice time with me. Began to visit each other and cook together...
Then I realized a negative site of him.
Though he was well educated, a good story teller and an interesting conversation creator, he is a cheat and I had to quit the relationship in order to maintain my image as a professional teacher.
But I really missed him....
I want to tell you that missing someone you enjoy is painful.
-missing a valuable customer
-missing a best friend
-missing a valuable influencer or a motivational speaker
-missing a valuable employee

All are painful.
Some years back I was following an influencer by the name Jeff Haden on Linkedin...
When he retired to Incom and my browser couldn't reach him, I felt a part of me was missing.
Though my writing style isn't similar to his, his influence is still with me eventhough I have never seen him.
I ever told him on Twitter that I wanted to write like him.
Life is really tough whenever you miss a gold.
I develop a let-go strategy that often helps me(I call it uplifting strategy).
It can help you too.
To uplift myself back to normal after missing someone, I use visualization, affirmations and meditation.
I keep myself inside me for a while.
And escape.


9.
The first time I carried over a course, I felt my heart would burst...
I put my hands over my head as I walked towards a bush.
"All my junior course mates will know it and I may fail again", I kept on telling myself.
If you have ever carried over a course, got fired from work, become pregnant out of wedlock or caught doing something disgraceful, you probably understand this.
The major cause of this pain is asking one or all of the following questions:
-What will my friends say?
-What will my parents say?
-Will my neighbours ever look at me the same?
Asking these questions can lead to committing suicide, abortion or change of location.
Be patient, feel free to criticize yourself.
Remember no one is perfect.
Come very close to God.

10.